Memory Lane
by jilyjackson
Summary: There are so many untold scenes in the Starcrossed Trilogy. This collection of short, various one-shots, of every POV, every time period, and with every characters, will attempt to fill in the blanks. Disclaimer: Do I own Starcrossed? Unfortunately, I do not.


**A/N: Hey! Here's a short one-shot to kick off my impending drabble of Starcrossed scenes. Hope you all enjoy; please review if you do! Thanks so much!**

**Disclaimer: Do I own Starcrossed? *snorts* I ****_wish. _****Nah, I don't. **

**Point of View: Claire**

**Time period: in-between Starcrossed and Dreamless**

* * *

At Least Once

**Claire**

I LEAFED THROUGH THE STACK of papers before me, grimacing. My math midterms were the next day, and I still didn't have a clue on how to do many of the problems before me. I ran a shaky hand through my hair. Valedictorian was an unreachable possibility now, anyway, with the arrival of the new Delos family, but I still needed good grades. My college dreams weren't unreachable, even if I didn't manage valedictorian.

I leaned my head back on my bed. I was sitting on the floor of my tiny room, leaning against my unmade bed, feet propped on my sliding closet. My room was undecorated other than the sloppy piles of dirty clothes, underwear, papers, and candy and gum wrappers littering the floor. My school textbooks and papers were fanned out in front of me. I groaned, looking out the window. I would have given anything to be out in the clear, cool Nantucket night.

My bedside lamp sputtered, and I frowned, crawling over to fix it. I was still too late. A shattering noise emanated from it, and the light blinked out. I swore. "You've got to be kidding me," I muttered, massaging my temples with my fingertips.

I opened my bedside table drawer, rummaging through it for a beeswax candle and a container of matches. I set the heavy candle down on top of my bedside table and pulled out a match, striking it once, twice, and finally three times before it lit. I brushed it against the candle, and it glowed, illuminating the room in a dim orangish glow. Blowing out the match gently, I tossed it in the corner. I supposed that I had a trash can once, but it was long gone now.

A loud _thud _sounded outside my bedroom window, and I jumped. "_Shit!" _a familiar voice cursed, and I felt a smile cross my face. I ran over to my window, opening it and leaning down. Below, attempting to climb the ivy trellis leading up to my bedroom was Jason Delos, hanging by one hand fifteen feet above the ground.

"Jason!" I hissed, the smile gone from my voice and face. "What are you _doing_?"

He looked up at me, and for a minute, I almost forgot that he was in a near-death experience for any human. Jason's brown hair was mussed and wild, and his eyes were wide. He clung on to my house for dear life, a strangled expression on my face. I pulled back from the window suddenly, checking my reflection in a mirror that hung on my plain white walls. My hair was tangled and matted, and my pjs- yoga pants and a t-shirt- were rumpled. All in all, not the ideal ensemble for meeting the boy that I had been obsessing over for the past month, but another groan from outside brought me back to my wits.

"Shh!" I said, rolling my eyes. "What is the matter with you? You're going to wake up my grandmother! And you really, really don't want to do that," I added. "At all. She can be pretty vicious to Asians, let alone Spanish boys climbing our ivy vine in the middle of the night."

Jason swung around, and began to resume climbing up. "It's not the middle of the night, five-two," he said, grinning slightly. "It's only ten. If thas' your definition o' 'middle of night', then you've got 'sm problems."

"Oh, yeah. You're the one scaling my house late at night, and I'm the one who has problems." I snorted, gazing down at Jason with a worried expression. He had nearly reached my windowsill, superhumanly fast as he was.

"Hey, I jus' call 'em like I see 'em, Aoki," Jason told me. I backed up, and he swung himself over the windowsill. He tripped over a pile of clothes on the floor, falling face-first into my bedroom floor. "_Gods. _Is there a floor in here?"

I glared at him. "Ha, ha, very funny. I wasn't expecting company, you know. Unexpected visitors at ten pm tend to surprise a girl."

He stood up, stumbling. I arched an eyebrow. "Woah, soldier. You alright?" I caught a whiff of something sweet. Almost _too _sweet. I choked out a laugh. "Jason- are you… are you _drunk_?"

Jason tripped over his feet, and I steadied him. "Maybe. A bit. I wast- I mean, I wast- ergh-" He seemed to be struggling to say the right thing. I hadn't noticed the stuttering before, outside and far away as he was, but now I was almost positive.

"Oh, Jason," I said, shaking my head and sighing. "What am I going to do with you? Just-" I glanced around. "Sit on my bed, okay? I'm gonna go get some ibuprofen from my kitchen, and then we're going to sneak out and I'll drive you home. Okay? Sound good?"

"No," he told me, running a hand through my hair as I attempted to sit him down on the couch. "I- I need to talk to you," he said, eyes wide. I had never seen Jason so mussed like this. He had always been the buttoned, collared boy. It was why I had strayed from him at first, claiming to hate him. Lucas was far prettier than he was, but I was no fool. He was in love with Helen. Anybody could see that, cousin or not. But, as I gradually got to know Jason, I found myself slowly falling in love with him. It was too bad that he never felt the same.

My gazed softened. "You can talk to me later. I promise, Jase. But for now, we need to get you home, alright?"

"_No. _I need to talk now. Thinking bad. Speaking good." He stared at me, empty-faced, eyes filled with something unidentifiable.

I shifted from foot to foot. "How much did you drink, Jason? You sound like the Hulk." My mind was racing. This wasn't the Jason that I knew. Something bad was going to happen if I didn't get him home, and fast. This was a drunk Jason. A very drunk Jason.

"You're beautiful," he said abruptly, not answering my question.

I froze. "...What did you just say?" I whispered.

Jason stood up, tripping. "You're the most beautiful person that I seen," he told me earnestly, eyes boring into me. His stare sent shivers of anticipation down my back, but I just gaped, blinking like a fish.

"No," I told him, managing to find words. "No, Helen's the most beautiful person that you've seen, Jason. We really need to get you home." I turned around, ready to sprint for the kitchen.

"You're wrong." I stopped in my tracks, closing my eyes. Jason continued, and I swiveled to face him, watching as he took a step towards me with each word. "You're beautiful. So beautiful, it hurts. And you're funny. And smart. And fiery. And got a laugh that makes me just..." Jason trailed off, walking closer. He was incredibly close to me now, so close that our faces were just inches from each other. "I think I'm in love with you."

My eyes widened, but I didn't get a chance to say anything. He kissed me. It was unlike any other kiss I had before: rough, and sloppy, and mind-numbing. It almost seemed to electrocute me, frazzling my nerves. His arm wrapped around my waist, and, after a few moments of me being shocked into submission, I responded back. The kiss was hot and hungry and wild and so many other words… I just couldn't even speak. I could taste the alcohol on his tongue, and though I knew I should pull back, I couldn't.

Jason pulled back, far too late and far too early. His eyes were smoky and hazy, and he tucked a curl behind my ear. "I had to do that," he whispered. "At least once." Then, he was gone, leaping out of my window. There was a _thud, _and I knew he had landed on the ground. I couldn't breathe.

_I had to do that. At least once._

_You're beautiful. So beautiful, it hurts._

_You're the most beautiful person I seen._

_And you're funny. And smart. And fiery. And got a laugh that makes me just… _

My bedroom door swung open, and my grandmother, clad in her kimono, stepped into my room. She narrowed her eyes at me. "What are you doing, _Kurea_?" she said in Japanese, using my translated name. Her eyes widened, and she yanked me by the wrist, hard. "Your lips are swollen." She slapped me across the face. "You been kissing a boy. You grounded for the next two weeks-"

She continued to yell at me, and I heard the lights in my parents' rooms click on. I knew that I was in deep trouble, but I couldn't keep a giddy smile off my face. Jason had been drunk, yes, but he had to have _some _feelings for me, right? I was still on another planet from the kiss that he had given me, and I felt shivers go down my spine.

I was in love with Jason. This I knew. I had known this for weeks.

But I never contemplated the possibility that _he _was also in love with _me._

And so, as both my parents and my grandmother shouted at me, likely causing another noise complaint from the neighbors, I brushed a finger across my lips. They _were _swollen, just as Grandmother had said. I didn't mind the swollenness so much, though.

I looked out my window, closing my eyes and replaying the memory of the kiss over and over again. This would be a moment that I would always remember, I knew. Regardless of whether or not Jason did feel for me back, and really did mean the things that he said, I would always remember this moment.

The moment I experienced for the first time what true love's kiss felt like.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! ;) Please review! **


End file.
